Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,773, issued Aug. 8, 1989 discloses a camera with a cassette receiving chamber adapted to be closed to hold a film cassette of the type having a film spool rotatable in a film unwinding direction to thrust a filmstrip out of the cassette and in a film winding direction to return the filmstrip into the cassette. A bi-directional motorized film drive apparatus of the camera is operable in a prewind mode to rotate the film spool of a film cassette in the closed chamber in the film unwinding direction and in a rewind mode to rotate the film spool in the film winding direction. In the prewind mode, a film leader is thrust out of the film cassette and is wound onto a take-up drum of the camera. The take-up drum is rotated at a faster speed than the cassette spool is rotated, and when the leader is secured to the drum the spool is overdriven by the resulting pull of the filmstrip at the spool. Then, substantially the entire length of the filmstrip is wound onto the take-up drum without being exposed. In the rewind mode, the drive motor is reversed and the filmstrip is returned one frame at a time following each exposure into the film cassette.
Other commonly assigned patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,122,823, issued Jun. 16, 1992, 5,049,914, issued Sep. 17, 1991, and 4,841,319, issued Jun. 20, 1989, suggest that the thrust type cassette be loaded end first through a door intended only for the cassette receiving chamber.